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The Cold War between Iran and the Arab World: Interview with Prof. Nader Hashemi

The Cold War between Iran and the Arab World: Interview with Prof. Nader Hashemi

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: The rivalry between Iran and the Arab world is nothing new. The 1979 revolution turned the previously friendly ties between Iranians and Arabs into a situation of regional competition and proxy conflicts. The most bitter moment came in the 1980s with the Iran-Iraq War, which claimed over a million lives. There have been points in recent history when Iran held amicable relations with Arab countries, especially under the presidencies of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami. The presidency of hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the moment that Iranian-Arab ties hit an all-time low and that post-1979 rivalries turned into outright hostility. In 2016, a group of religious extremists attacked and...

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The Joys and Challenges of Writing for Kids in Conversation with Caryl Hart

The Joys and Challenges of Writing for Kids in Conversation with Caryl Hart

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: Writing for children is a delicate and sensitive job. Children’s authors should be able to strike a balance between their own past while keeping in touch with the realities of their young audiences today, be entertaining and engaging, but not confusing and unnecessarily complicated. They have to take note of the intricacies of the children’s universe while trying to cultivate and encourage their imaginations. Today, we are living in a digital era when social media, online games and streaming have permeated the lives of adults and children alike, and altered their hobbies, interests and interactions with others. Print books, magazines and newspapers now face a serious rival that takes up an...

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Nationalism in the Balkans Predates Brexit and Trump: Jasmin Mujanovic

Nationalism in the Balkans Predates Brexit and Trump: Jasmin Mujanovic

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: The Balkan region is a volatile area of southeastern Europe. It has been through many ups and downs since the disintegration of Yugoslavia in 1992. Conflicts over borders or unsettled political disputes have framed its present-day situation. However, the Balkans are a high priority in European foreign policy and a key region whose developments tend to have a ripple effect across the continent. Balkan states suffer from corruption, economic fragility, a lack or inefficiency of democratic institutions, ethnic tensions and organized crime. Added to this, unpopular external players such as Russia, China and Turkey are looking for a foothold in the region. The political ambitions of individual Balkan...

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Afghans Want a Functioning Democracy: Shukria Dellawar

Afghans Want a Functioning Democracy: Shukria Dellawar

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: Afghanistan has experienced difficult days in its modern history. From 1996 to 2001, it was ruled by the totalitarian Taliban regime. The Taliban are a fundamentalist political movement that enforced an extreme interpretation of Islamic law and caused Afghans a great deal of pain and suffering through massacres, human trafficking, oppression of women and violence against civilians. The 2001 invasion of Afghanistan by the United States and its allies, which took place in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, took a heavy toll on Afghans. But there was a silver lining as the Taliban were removed from power and authority was given to the Afghan people to determine their future through democratic...

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Blanket Bans on Immigration Won’t Make America Safer: Hiroshi Motomura

Blanket Bans on Immigration Won’t Make America Safer: Hiroshi Motomura

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: Since coming to office, President Donald Trump has tightened US immigration policies, both legal and illegal. His policies follow economic nationalism and are part of his “America First” slogan, aimed at protecting American workers and industries. In 2017, Trump banned immigration from several Muslim-majority countries and ordered the building of a separation wall along the US border with Mexico, from which a large number of illegal immigrants flock to the United States. The Trump administration also enacted a policy that permitted the government to take thousands of illegal migrant children from their parents at US ports of entry and place them in cage-like detention centers. On several...

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It’s Difficult Being Black in America: Akil Houston

It’s Difficult Being Black in America: Akil Houston

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: Anti-black racism in the United States continues to be a problem over half a century since the abolition of Jim Crow laws. These laws enforced segregation between black and white Americans in public places. Although the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination in employment and banned race-based segregation, as well as sporadic efforts by successive US governments to tackle racial inequalities, racism still looms large in 21st-century America. Even if it is not a national trend, minorities in the US continue to receive discriminatory treatment from law enforcement officials and face major obstacles in securing housing, health care and quality education, as well as experiencing...

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Christmas Is a Time for Acts of Generosity: Carole Cusack

Christmas Is a Time for Acts of Generosity: Carole Cusack

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: To those who celebrate it, Christmas is as important as the history of Christianity itself. The religious and cultural celebration connects millions of people throughout the world who speak a variety of languages and come from different backgrounds but share the same religion and calendar. Christmas, however, has evolved throughout the years to become a worldwide fiesta that is both religious and secular, integrating a range of pre-Christian and pagan traditions into the festivities. As the annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, Christmas is observed by most on December 25. It has become so popular that many non-Christians around the world mark it by exchanging gifts, putting up...

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Israel Continues to Exclude and Erase Palestinians

Israel Continues to Exclude and Erase Palestinians

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: Since 1948, thousands of news articles, hundreds of hours of TV and radio programs, tens of books and countless research papers have been produced about the root causes, ramifications and human cost of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. However, several questions remain unanswered and, as time goes by, it becomes more evident that the international community is either unable or not determined to find a solution to the crisis. Noam Chomsky, a distinguished American linguist and political commentator, once said that Israel’s actions in Palestine are “much worse than apartheid” in South Africa. Desmond Tutu, the South African cleric and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has also said that Israel’s...

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In Iran under sanctions, a solstice without pomegranates

In Iran under sanctions, a solstice without pomegranates

Kourosh Ziabari - Asia Times: On Friday, Iranian families will mark the winter solstice, the longest, darkest night of the year. Yalda festivities are usually a time to recite poems and feast on cured meats and fresh fruit, especially the pomegranate. But this year sanctions have kept the precious fruit on vendors’ shelves – its price is out of reach for many grappling with the flailing economy. In the northern Iranian city of Rasht, fruit vendor Farshid says families are unable to afford a decent quality of life or to spend money on recreation, manifested in their reluctance to buy fruit for the solstice. “Yalda night is a time of the year we sell more, but this time, it seems that there’s no trace of increased sales. The...

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Islamophobic populism certainly sells newspapers: Prof. Linda Briskman

Islamophobic populism certainly sells newspapers: Prof. Linda Briskman

Kourosh Ziabari - ODVV: Whether it takes the form of vandalizing mosques, assaulting women wearing hijab walking down the streets, painting graffiti with hateful messages on the walls of a Muslim teacher's house or bullying the Syrian child at school, Islamophobia is raising its ugly head across the world and seems to be more powerful than ever. The coming to power of Donald Trump in the United States, Brexit in the United Kingdom and the inability of the international community to address the global refugee crisis have only exacerbated anti-Muslim prejudice and paved the way for more hate crimes to happen here and there. More than before, the world is in need of inter-faith dialogue and people need education to be able to...

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Justice would be served if Israel and Egypt provided freedom of movement for the people of Gaza: Judith Blau

Justice would be served if Israel and Egypt provided freedom of movement for the people of Gaza: Judith Blau

Kourosh Ziabari - ODVV: While more countries across the world gear up to recognize the historic city of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict appears to be as insoluble and intractable as ever. After the United States moved its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, countries such as Australia, Czech Republic, Honduras, Romania and Paraguay also signaled their willingness to follow the U.S. example. Guatemala has already opened its new embassy in Jerusalem in May. The relations between Israel and the United States warmed up significantly under President Trump and there's no trace of sporadic skirmishes between the two governments that would come to surface from time to time when Barack Obama was in...

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India Is the Biggest Democracy in the World: Brahma Chellaney

India Is the Biggest Democracy in the World: Brahma Chellaney

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: Bordered by the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, India is the second most populous country and, arguably, the biggest democracy in the world. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund recognize India as the sixth largest economy on the planet. Despite significant economic growth in recent decades, India faces its own set of challenges. Poverty in India is still a serious concern, even though the country is no longer home to the largest number of poor people in the world; that country is Nigeria. However, figures show two-thirds of people in India live in poverty. India’s dynamic foreign policy and the willingness of countries to forge a close partnership with New...

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